Document feed apparatus

ABSTRACT

A document, which is fed by a single belt, is prevented from wrapping around the belt as it exits from the belt by a plurality of rollers, which are rotated in the same direction as the belt but with a greater peripheral speed. Each of the rollers, which are axially spaced from each other, cooperates with a resiliently biased element to form a nip along the path of the document beyond the exit end of the belt. At their point of engagement with the belt, the peripheral direction of the rollers is opposite to that of the belt to prevent the paper from moving with the belt past this point. Fingers are disposed between the rollers to prevent the document from wrapping around the rollers as it is fed by the rollers. Resiliently biased rollers engage spaced portions of the single belt across its width to provide a driving force from the belt to the document while insuring that the leading edge of the document stops at gate fingers, which have the resiliently biased rollers therebetween and determine the position at which the document is held for reproduction or copying purposes in a photocopy machine prior to being advanced from the copying position by the belt.

United States Patent [191 Bleau 1 Oct. 7, 1975 DOCUMENT FEED APPARATUS[75] Inventor: Charles D. Bleau, Winchester, Ky.

[73] Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY.

[22] Filed: Dec. 26, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 427,780

2,631,039 3/1953 Barber 271/80 X 3,506,257 4/1970 Fackler et al 271/4 X3,747,918 7/1973 Margulis et a1. 271/4 Primary Examiner-Lloyd L. KingAssistant Examiner-Randolph A. Reese Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Frank C.Leach, Jr.

[ ABSTRACT A document, which is fed by a single belt, is prevented fromwrapping around the belt as it exits from the belt by a plurality ofrollers, which are rotated in the same direction as the belt but with agreater peripheral speed. Each of the rollers, which are axially spacedfrom each other, cooperates with a resiliently biased element to form anip along the path of the document beyond the exit end of the belt.Attheir point of engagement with the belt, the peripheral direction ofthe rollers is opposite to that of the belt to prevent the paper frommoving with the belt past this point. Fingers are disposed between therollers to prevent the document from wrapping around the rollers as itis fed by the rollers. Resiliently biased rollers engage spaced portionsof the single belt across its width to provide a driving force from thebelt to the document while insuring that the leading edge of thedocument stops at gate fingers, which have the resiliently biasedrollers therebetween and determine the position at which the document isheld for reproduction or copying purposes in a photocopy machine priorto being advanced from the copying position by the belt.

12 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures U.S. Patent Oct. 7,1975 Sheet10f2 3,910,570

FIGJ

FIG. 2

' US. Patent Oct. 7,1975 Sheet2of2 3,910,570

FIG. 3

FIG. 4

DOCUMENT FEED APPARATUS In photocopy machines, it is desired to be ableto produce many copies of the same document or different documents at afast rate. As a result, each document, which is to be reproduced by thephotocopy machine, should be fed to a reproducing or copying positionalong a predetermined pathas quickly as possible and then removedtherefrom along a predetermined path to a receiving area as quickly aspossible after completion of copying of the document.

One means of advancing the document to this copying position and thenremoving the document form this copying position has been to use anendless belt arrangement wherein the belt drives the document to thecopying position on a platen, and then removes the document form thecopying position upon completion of copying of the document.Furthermore, the belt is capable of starting the feed of another newdocument to the copying position as the copied document leaves theplaten.

When the document leaves the platen, it tends to want to follow the pathof the endless belt in some instances. Thus, since the belt is mountedon support and drive rollers at its ends, the document would tend tofollow the travel of the belt'so as to wrap around the belt at the exitend of the belt.

When a single belt is used for feeding the document from the platen, anyarrangement for preventing the document from tending to wrap around thesingle belt at the exit end of the belt must be in engagement with thebelt because the document may be thin enough to pass between anypreventing means spaced even slightly from the belt. One reason for thiscapability of the thin document passing between spaced preventing meansis that rubbing of the belt against the document and the documentagainst the platen produces electrostatic charges tending to cause thethin document to adhere to the belt in some instances.

If a fixed document preventing means engages the belt to prevent thedocument from wrapping around the belt, the feed speed of the trailingportion of the document being urged by the belt would cause the documentto wad up against the fixed document preventing means. Since this wouldprevent'feed of the document, a fixed document preventing means, whichengages the single belt, has not previously been capable of preventingthe document from wrapping around the belt.

Even if a fixed document preventing means could be arranged in somemanner to not cause wadding up of the document, it would have thefurther problem of possibly scraping the belt because of the fixeddocument preventing means engaging the belt. As a result, dirt couldcollect in the scrapes of the belt and produce streaks on copies madefrom the document disposed at the reproduction or copying position. Thiswould occur when the document is rather thin or when the docu ment doesnot extend for the width of the belt.

One previously available belt means for advancing a document to and froma platen while preventing the document from wrapping around the exit endof the belt means has used a plurality of separate belts, which arespaced from each other in the direction of the width of the documentbeing fed. These have enabled fixed document engaging means to bedisposed between the belts to prevent the document from wrapping aroundthe belts.

However, the use of a plurality of belts can cause stripes, which areproduced by the edges of the belts, to appear on the copy produced fromthe document when the document is relatively thin or if the document isnot as wide as the belts. Thus, a striped effect may be produced on thecopies by the separate belts.

The present invention satisfactorily solves the foregoing problem byproviding means to prevent the document from wrapping around a belt,which is advancing the document, while still not having any stripedeffect on the copies. The present invention accomplishes this byutilizing a single belt so that the striped effect produced by theplurality of separate belts is eliminated. At the same time, the presentinvention employs rotating means in engagement with the portion of thebelt wrapped around the exit end roller or rollers of the belt so thatthere is no wadding up of the document or scraping of the belt by anyfixed preventing means. Thus, the rotating means, which preferablycomprises a plurality of separate rollers spaced axially from eachother, not only can engage the belt without damaging it but also preventthe document from wrapping around the belt. 1

The rollers are disposed so that the surface of each of the rollersengages the belt adjacent its exit end roller or rollers. With therollers rotating in the same direction as the portion of the beltengaging the document, the peripheral or tangential direction of each ofthe rollers at its engagement with the belt is opposite to that in whichthe belt is moving. Thus, the rollers cause the leading edge of thedocument to return to the predetermined path if the document shouldfollow the travel of the belt as the belt is wrapped around the exit endroller or rollers. The rollers are preferably rotated at a greaterperipheral speed than the belt to insure that the rollers dominate thedirection in which the leading edge of the document is moved.

Another problem with a single belt for feeding a document has been forthe belt to positively engage the document to advance it and to preventthe document from passing beyond gate fingers, which engage the leadingedge of the document for retention at the reproduction or copyingposition. The previously available plurality of separate belts haseffectively solved this problem through having the gate fingers disposedbetween the belts. However, the problem of the striped background effecton copies exists when using the plurality of separate belts aspreviously mentioned.

The present invention satisfactorily solves the foregoing problemsthrough eliminating the striped background effect on copies produced bythe plurality of separate belts by using a single belt while stillhaving the single belt advance the document to the reproduction orcopying position and against the gate fingers without advancing thedocument beyond the gate fingers. The present invention employs aplurality of resiliently biased rollers disposed across the width of thesingle belt and within the track of the belt. These rollers createbubbles in the belt at their engagements with the belt to hold thedocument against the platen so that the leading edge of the documentabuts against the raised gers, have moved out of their blockingpositions and the belt activated.

An object of this invention is to provide a document feed apparatus thatinsures that the document continues along a predetermined path afterleaving its belt advancing means.

Another object of this invention is to provide an arrangement for a beltfeed for a document to prevent the document from wrapping around a beltas the endless belt changes direction at the completion of feed of thedocument by the belt.

A further object of this invention is to provide a single belt forfeeding a document.

The foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages of theinvention will be more apparent from the following more particulardescription of a preferred emobdiment of the invention as illustrated inthe accompanying drawings. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view, partly in elevation, of the document feedapparatus of the present invention being used with a photocopy machineand taken along line 11 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view, partly in section, of the document feedingapparatus of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view, partly in elevation, of aportion of the document feed apparatus of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is an end elevational view, partly in section, of the feeddocument apparatus shown in FIG. 3.

Referring to the drawings and particularly FIG. 1, there is shown aplaten of a photocopy machine 11 with which the document feedapparatusof the present invention is employed. Documents 12 are fed from a guide14 of the photocopy machine 11 to the surface of the platen 10 wheneverpivotally mounted gate fingers 15 are removed from their documentblocking or preventing position by the logic of the photocopy machine.The guide 14 has an extension 16 to direct the document toward thesurface of the platen 10.

The document feed apparatus of the present invention includes a singleendless belt 17, which is supported by rollers 18 and 19 at the ends ofthe belt 17 at which the direction of travel of the belt 17 is reversed.The belt 17 is tangent to the lower portions of the rollers 18 and 19slightly above the top surface of the platen 10.

The belt 17 is formed of any suitable elastic material having a desiredcoefficient of friction relative to the document 12 and the platen 10.The material of the belt 17 also should have such triboelectriccharacteristics as to prevent the document 12 from adhering too stronglyto the belt 17. One suitable example of the material of the belt 17 isneoprene.

The rollers 18 and 19 are rotatably mounted ina torque box 20, which issupported in a casing 21 by being secured to downwardly extendingprojections 21 of the casing 21. The casing 21 is pivotally mounted onthe photocopy machine 11 to move the document feed apparatus away fromthe platen 10 when desired.

The belt 17 is driven from a motor 22 (see FIG.-2), which is supportedby the casing 21. A shaftextension 23 of'the roller '19'has a springclutched pulley 24, which is continuously driven through a timing belt25 from the motor22, supported thereon. The timing belt 25 passesarounda pulley 26 on a shaft 27 of the motor 22. Accordingly, wheneverthe pulley 24 is connected to the shaft extension 23-by the springclutchtl'irough 1 a magnet being energized to cause a plastic shoe onits arm to move a spring of the spring clutch against the shaftextension 23,.the roller 19 is rotated clockwise (as viewed in FIG. 1)to cause the lower portion of the belt 17 to move to the left and theupper portion to move to the right so that the belt 17 can advance oneof the documents 12 along the platen 10.

As the document 12 moves down along the quide 14, an entry spring 28urges the document 12 against the lower portion of the belt 17 adjacentthe roller 18 so that the document 12 is moved with a high driving forceby the belt 17 onto the platen 10. Because of the sag in the belt 17,the document 12 is in a low force area when disposed beneath the belt 17and on the top surface of the platen 10 although there is some drive.

As the document 12 is advanced along the platen 10 by the belt 17,travel of the document 12 is stopped by a plurality of gate fingers 29,which are moved into a blocking or preventing position by a spring 30(see FIG. 4) when a solenoid 31 is inactivated. Any other suitableactuating means can be employed.

To insure that the document 12 engages the gate fingers 29, back-uprollers are supported within the track of the belt 17 between eachadjacent pair of the gate fingers 29. Each of the back-up rollers 32 isrotatably supported in a carrier 33 by the roller 32 being disposedbetween a pair of bifurcated arms 34 of the carrier 33.

The carrier 33 is pivotally mounted on a support 35, which is fixed to abottom plate 35' of the torque box 20. The support 35 has an uprightextension 36 at its end remote from the pivotal connection of thecarrier 33 to the support 35 and to which one end of a spring 37 issecured. The other end of the spring 37 is secured to an uprightextension 38 of the carrier 33. Accordingly, the spring 37 continuouslyurges the carrier 33 counterclockwise (as viewed in FIG. 3) about thepivotal connection between the carrier 33 and the support 35 so that theback-up roller 32 is continuously urged into engagement with the insidesurface of the belt 17 adjacent the gate fingers 29.

As a result of the downward force exerted by the back-up rollers 32,bubbles 39 (see FIG. 4) are formed in the belt 17 between each pair ofthe gate fingers 29. Each of the bubbles 39 is a protrusion of the belt17 so that the belt 17 pushes the document downwardly against the platen10. As a result, the leading edge of the document 12 engages the gatefingers 29 to stop the document 12 on the platen 10 at the reproductionor copying position. Furthermore, the back-up rollers 32 provide apositive driving force on the document 12 from the belt 17 at this pointwhen the gate fingers 29 are removed from their blocking or preventingposition to allow the document 12 to be fed from the platen 10.

When the gate fingers 29 are pulled downwardly when the solenoid 31 isactivated, activation of the roller 19 thereafter by the pulley 24 beingconnected to the shaft extension 23 of the roller 19 through the springclutch being activated causes the document 12 to be fed from the platen10. To prevent the document 12 from following the travel or path ofthebelt 17 as g the belt 17 wraps'around the drive roller 19 to reverseits direction of travel in its upper portion, a plurality of rollers 41(see FIGS.-1 and 2) is supported in spaced relation along shaft 42. i

The'rollers 41, which are preferably formed of a light weight plastichaving a low spring rate such as polyurethane foam. for example. aredriven at the same time as the roller 19 is driven and in the samedirection. The shaft 42 for the rollers 41 has a pulley 43 mountedthereon for dirving engagement with a timing belt 44, which passesaround a pulley 45 on the shaft extension 23 of the roller 19.

The pulley 43 is of a smaller diameter than the pulley 45 so that theperipheral speed of each of the rollers 41 is greater than theperipheral speed of the roller 19 or the belt 17. This aids in advancingthe document 12 away from the belt 17 and between the rollers 41 and aresiliently biased plate 46.

The plate 46 is continuously urged by a spring 47 into engagement withthe roller 41 to form a nip therebetween. The plate 46 is disposed todirect the document 12 toward a storage bin 48 of the photocopy machine1 1.

Because the rollers 41 are engaging the belt 17, the leading edgeof thedocument 12 cannot advance between the belt 17 and the rollers 41.Furthermore, with the peripheral speed of the speed of the rollers 41being greater than the roller 19, the document 12 is prevented fromadhering to the belt 17. At the point of engagement between each of therollers 41 and the belt 17, the peripheral or tangential directions ofthe roller 19 and each of the rollers 41 are opposite.

As the leading edge of the document 12 passes through the nip formedbetween the rollers 41 and the plate 46, a switch actuator 49, which ispivotally mounted on the casing 21 through a rod 48', is moved clockwise(as viewed in FIG. 1) to have a portion 49' engage an arm 50 of a switch51 to cause closing of the switch 51. The closing of the switch 51supplies a signal to the logic for the photocopy machine 11. Thisresults in the solenoid 31 (see FIG. 4) being inactivated so that thegate fingers 29 are returned to their blocking position by the spring30. Then, the gate fingers 15, (see FIG. 1 are pivotally moved out oftheir blocking position ifthere is another of the documents 12 in theguide 14 for transport to the platen 10.

Thus, the feed of the document 12 from the guide 14 starts before thedocument 12 on the platen is completely removed from the platen 10. Ifthere is no document 12 in the guide 14 and in engagement with the gatefingers 15, then when the trailing edge of the document 12 passes beyondthe switch acutator 49, the switch 51 causes the pulley 24 of the shaftextension 23 of the roller 19 to be disconnected from the shaftextension 23 so that the roller 19 and the rollers 41 are no longerdriven whereby the belt 17 stops.

As the document 12 exits through'the nip between the rollers 41 and theplate 46, the document 12has a tendency to wrap around the rollers underconditions such as the document 12 being extremely curled 0r wrinkled orthe document 12 being electrostatically charged. for example. To preventthis, fingers 52 on a plate 53, which is carried by the casing 21, areint'er-' posed between the rollers 41.

Accordingly. the document 12 can be fed to the copying or reproductionposition on the platen 10 by driving the roller 19 through connectingthe shaft extension 23 of the roller 19 to the pulley 24 mountedthereon. With the gate fingers pivotally mounted out of the way. thedocument 12 can move between the entry spring 28 and the idler roller 18so that there is a driving force on the document 12 to cause it to beadvanced by the belt 17 along the platen 10 until it engages the gatefingers 29, which are raised after the leading edge of the document 12previously on the platen 10 has been advanced past the gate fingers 29.As the leading edge of the new document 12 approaches the gate fingers29, the back-up rollers 32 insure that the leading edge of the document12 engages the gate fingers 29 to stop the document 12 at thereproduction or copying position on the platen 10.

Upon completion of copying of the document 12 on the platen 10, thelogic of the photocopy machine 11 causes energization of the solenoid 31to lower the gate fingers 29. Then, after a predetermined time delay,the roller 19 is driven to advance the document 12 from the platen 10 tothe nip between the rollers 41 and the resiliently biased plate 46. Theback-up rollers 32 exert a driving force through the belt 17 on thedocument 12 the belt 17 is driven from the roller 19.

As the leading edge of the document 12 passes the nip between theresiliently biased plate 46 and the rollers 41, the switch actuator 49is moved by the document 12 to cause closing of the switch 51. As aresult. the logic of the photocopy machine 11 causes deenergization ofthe solenoid 31 so that the spring 30 moves the gate fingers 29upwardly. Then. the gate fingers 15 are pivoted downwardly if another ofthe documents 12 is in the guide 14. If one of the documents 12 is notin the guide 14, the switch 51, which isactuated by the trailing edge ofthe document 12 leaving the platen 10 as it passes through the switchactuator 49, stops the belt 17 and the rollers 41. If another of thedocuments 12 is entering onto the platen 10 from the guide 14, a switch(not shown) on the guide 14 stops the belt 17 and the rollers 41 throughsupplying a signal to the logic of the photocopy mahcine 11. 7

While the present invention has shownand described the rollers 41 ashaving a greater peripheral speed than the roller 19 and the belt 17, itis only necessary that they have at least the same peripheral speed asthe roller 19 although it is preferred that they have a greater speedthan the roller 19 and the belt 17. While the pulley 43 on the shaft 42has been shown as being smaller than the pulley 45 on the shaftextension 23 to obtain a greater peripheral speed for the rollers 41than the roller 19, it should be understood that the rollers 41 may havea larger diameter than the roller 19 and the diameters of the pulleys 43and 45 could be the same to produce the different peripheral speeds.

ered with respect to the roller 19 if it were desired to as it leavesthe platen 10. It is only necessary that the have a lower predeterminedpath for the document 12 rollers 41 engage the belt 17 at a portion ofthe belt 17 wrapped around the roller 19.

Instead of utilizing the rollers 41, any rotating arrangement to preventthe sheet 12 from following the path of the belt 17 could be employed.For example, a single roller or a plurality of separate belts could beused instead of the rollers.

While the rollers 41 have particular utility in preventing the document12 from wrapping around the belt 17 at the exit end of the belt 17, itshould be understood that the rollers 41 could be utilized with a beltdrive arrangement having a plurality of separate belts rather than thesingle belt 17 to cause an increased driving force on the document 12.

It should be understood that each of the rollers 18 and 19 has a flatcentral portion and tapering portions on each side thereof to insurethat the belt 17 tracks properly. Furthermore, the position of the idlerroller 18 is adjustable with respect to the drive roller 19 to slightlyalter the distance therebetween to control the position of the trackingof the belt 17 on the platen 10. An advantage of this invention is thatit insures that a document, which is fed by a belt, exits in apredetermined path. Another advantage of this invention is that itenables a single drive belt to be used for feeding a document. 7

While the invention has been particularly shown and described withreference to a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood bythose skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may bemade therein without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention.

What is claimed is: 1. A document feeding apparatus including: beltmeans for feeding a document along a predetermined path; 1

rotating means disposed adjacent the axit end of said belt means andcooperating with said belt means to cause the document to continue tofollow the predetermined path when said' belt means ends, said rotatingmeans rotating in the same rotary direction as the engaging portion ofsaid belt means to feed the document along the predetermined path;

said rotating means having a peripheral speed at least equal to theperipheral speed of said belt means;

and means engaging said rotating means to form a nip therebetween alongthe predetermined path beyond the exit end of said belt means to enablesaid rotating means to create a driving force on the document to advancethe document from said belt means along the predetermined path.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 in which:

said rotating means comprises roller means engaging said belt meansadjacent its exit end;

and said roller means and said belt means having opposite peripheraldirections at their point of engagement.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2 in which said roller means has agreater peripheral speed than the peripheral speed of said belt means.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3 in which said roller meanscomprises a plurality of rollers having the same axis of rotation andaxially spaced from each other.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4 including means extending betweensaid rollers to prevent the document from wrapping around said rollersafter passing through the nip.

6. The apparatus according to claim 2 in which said roller meanscomprises a plurality of rollers having the same axis of rotation andaxially spaced from each other.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6 including means extending betweensaid rollers to prevent the document from wrapping around said rollersafter passing through the nip.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7 in which said engaging meanscomprises means resiliently urged against said rollers.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8 in which: said belt meanscomprises:

a single belt; means disposed beneath said single belt to support thedocument as it is moved by said single belt in a direction along thelength of said belt;

means acting on spaced portions across the width of said belt to urgeeach of the spaced portions of said belt against the document on saiddisposed means as it moves along the predetermined path;

and gate means disposed across the width of said belt between saidacting means to stop the feed of each of the documents by said belt atselected times at a predetermined position, said acting means beingspaced relative to said gate means in the direction in which thedocument is moved so as to cause each of the documents to the engaged bysaid gate means at the selected times.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1 in which said rotating means hasa greater peripheral speed than the peripheral speed of said belt means.

11. A document feeding apparatus including:

a single belt;

means disposed beneath said belt to support the document as it is movedby said belt in a direction along the length of said belt;

means to support said belt at each of its ends to cause movement of saidbelt in an endless track in directions along its length;

means acting on spaced portions of said belt across its width to urgethe spaced portions of said belt against the document on said documentsupport means to feed the document;

and gate means disposed across the width of said belt between saidacting means to stop the feed of each of the documents by said belt atselected times at a predetermined position, said acting means beingspaced relative to said gate means in the direction in which thedocument is moved so as to cause each of the documents to be engaged bysaid gate means at the selected times.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11 in which said acting meanscomprises:

a plurality of rollers;

and means continuously urging each of said rollers against the spacedportions of said belt to cause the document to be engaged against saiddocument support means by the spaced portions of said belt.

1. A document feeding apparatus including: belt means for feeding adocument along a predetermined path; rotating means disposed adjacentthe axit end of said belt means and cooperating with said belt means toCause the document to continue to follow the predetermined path whensaid belt means ends, said rotating means rotating in the same rotarydirection as the engaging portion of said belt means to feed thedocument along the predetermined path; said rotating means having aperipheral speed at least equal to the peripheral speed of said beltmeans; and means engaging said rotating means to form a nip therebetweenalong the predetermined path beyond the exit end of said belt means toenable said rotating means to create a driving force on the document toadvance the document from said belt means along the predetermined path.2. The apparatus according to claim 1 in which: said rotating meanscomprises roller means engaging said belt means adjacent its exit end;and said roller means and said belt means having opposite peripheraldirections at their point of engagement.
 3. The apparatus according toclaim 2 in which said roller means has a greater peripheral speed thanthe peripheral speed of said belt means.
 4. The apparatus according toclaim 3 in which said roller means comprises a plurality of rollershaving the same axis of rotation and axially spaced from each other. 5.The apparatus according to claim 4 including means extending betweensaid rollers to prevent the document from wrapping around said rollersafter passing through the nip.
 6. The apparatus according to claim 2 inwhich said roller means comprises a plurality of rollers having the sameaxis of rotation and axially spaced from each other.
 7. The apparatusaccording to claim 6 including means extending between said rollers toprevent the document from wrapping around said rollers after passingthrough the nip.
 8. The apparatus according to claim 7 in which saidengaging means comprises means resiliently urged against said rollers.9. The apparatus according to claim 8 in which: said belt meanscomprises: a single belt; means disposed beneath said single belt tosupport the document as it is moved by said single belt in a directionalong the length of said belt; means acting on spaced portions acrossthe width of said belt to urge each of the spaced portions of said beltagainst the document on said disposed means as it moves along thepredetermined path; and gate means disposed across the width of saidbelt between said acting means to stop the feed of each of the documentsby said belt at selected times at a predetermined position, said actingmeans being spaced relative to said gate means in the direction in whichthe document is moved so as to cause each of the documents to theengaged by said gate means at the selected times.
 10. The apparatusaccording to claim 1 in which said rotating means has a greaterperipheral speed than the peripheral speed of said belt means.
 11. Adocument feeding apparatus including: a single belt; means disposedbeneath said belt to support the document as it is moved by said belt ina direction along the length of said belt; means to support said belt ateach of its ends to cause movement of said belt in an endless track indirections along its length; means acting on spaced portions of saidbelt across its width to urge the spaced portions of said belt againstthe document on said document support means to feed the document; andgate means disposed across the width of said belt between said actingmeans to stop the feed of each of the documents by said belt at selectedtimes at a predetermined position, said acting means being spacedrelative to said gate means in the direction in which the document ismoved so as to cause each of the documents to be engaged by said gatemeans at the selected times.
 12. The apparatus according to claim 11 inwhich said acting means comprises: a plurality of rollers; and meanscontinuously urging each of said rollers against the spaced portions ofsaid belt to cause the document to be engaged against said documentsupport means by tHe spaced portions of said belt.